Why Max Healthcare is spending ₹300 crore outside metros

Max Healthcare is set to acquire a 58.4% controlling stake in Bhubaneswar-based Kalinga Hospital for ₹300 crore. 

What’s going on: this marks Max’s entry into a new city and gives it control of a well-established 250-bed multi-speciality hospital that’s been running since 1997.

But this isn’t a one-off deal. Max Healthcare has been on an expansion spree, especially beyond metro cities. 

To do this, the company is betting on both building new hospitals from scratch and acquiring existing ones. In fact, just last year, it signed a deal to develop a 450-bed hospital in Pune through the acquisition of Yerawada Properties.

Big picture: nearly 65-70% of India’s population lives outside metros, yet quality healthcare remains concentrated in big cities. 

Hospitals and clinics alone make up 40% of the healthcare market, showing how infrastructure-heavy the sector is. Max Healthcare is moving early, expanding into markets like Bhubaneswar through acquisitions and new builds to capture this growing opportunity.